Drug deaths now outnumber traffic fatalities in U.S., data show

Fueling the surge are prescription pain and anxiety drugs that are potent, highly addictive and especially dangerous when combined with one another or with other drugs or alcohol.

Propelled by an increase in prescription narcotic overdoses, drug deaths now outnumber traffic fatalities in the United States, a Times analysis of government data has found.

Drugs exceeded motor vehicle accidents as a cause of death in 2009, killing at least 37,485 people nationwide, according to preliminary data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

While most major causes of preventable death are declining, drugs are an exception. The death toll has doubled in the last decade, now claiming a life every 14 minutes. By contrast, traffic accidents have been dropping for decades because of huge investments in auto safety.

Public health experts have used the comparison to draw attention to the nation's growing prescription drug problem, which they characterize as an epidemic. This is the first time that drugs have accounted for more fatalities than traffic accidents since the government started tracking drug-induced deaths in 1979.

Fueling the surge in deaths are prescription pain and anxiety drugs that are potent, highly addictive and especially dangerous when combined with one another or with other drugs or alcohol. Among the most commonly abused are OxyContin, Vicodin, Xanax and Soma. One relative newcomer to the scene is Fentanyl, a painkiller that comes in the form of patches and lollipops and is 100 times more powerful than morphine.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-drugs-epidemic-20110918,0,5517691.story

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Search team looking for missing nursing student finds body

Crime scene investigators were inspecting the badly decomposed body, which was found in a brushy area near Pleasanton Sunol Road at Verona Road, said Sgt. J.D. Nelson of the Alameda County Sheriff's Department.

The body was discovered about 10:30 a.m. by member of a search party made up of family members and volunteers looking for 26-year-old Michelle Le, who went missing in May.

Investigators said it could not immediately be determined whether the body was that of Le. Because of the condition of the remains, not even the gender could be discerned, according to a news release by the Hayward Police Department. Police said the Alameda County coroner's office will make a determination on the identity.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/09/search-team-looking-for-missing-nursing-student-finds-body.html#more

How not to catch a terrorist

Elaborate, expensive sting operations by the FBI are based on the premise that true terrorists will take the bait. This is not the same thing as preventing an actual attack.

Shortly after Sept. 11, 2001, FBI Director Robert Mueller issued a memo to his field offices detailing "one set of priorities" for the agency: Stop the next terrorist attack. This directive marked a new "preemptive" style of law enforcement that has since become the hallmark of our domestic front in the war against terrorism.

Under this system, catching an actual terrorist would constitute a failure because the perpetrators would have committed the act. Instead, we are in effect seeking "pre-terrorists" — individuals whose intentions, more than their actions, constitute the primary threat.

Taking stock of the major "terrorist" prosecutions that this approach has yielded, however, it's not at all clear we're safer from another attack.

The government's marquee post-9/11 terrorism investigations, including cases such as the Miami Seven, the Ft. Dix Six and last year's Portland Christmas Tree Bomber, have not involved real attacks but, rather, have been sting operations involving plots invented by law enforcement. New York University's Center on Law and Security, which tracks federal terrorism prosecutions, reports that since 2009, the FBI has escalated its use of stings in which a confidential informant or undercover officer approaches a suspect and "assists him in the planning of an attempted terror crime."

The defendants in these plots, most of them male Muslim immigrants with no history of terrorism or violence, have become unwitting actors in a disturbing theatrical performance: The FBI scripts the plot and provides the weapons, along with money, cars and any other logistical support needed to carry out the "attack."

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-bartosiewicz-informants-20110918,0,3689558,print.story

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India

'Community policing creates a cop in every civilian'

Nagpur police commissioner Ankush Dhanvijay has passionately tried to forge a strong bonding among different communities since the day he took over the reigns of the city just over a year ago.

Improvising the concept of community policing, Dhanvijay laid his focus on communal harmony to secure the city against riot and terror attacks. As a result, the city police organized Eid-e-Milan, Ganeshutsav melawa, Christmas melawa and also programmes to mark the Buddha Purnima, Paryushan and so on.

With a proven track record of tackling riot-like situations in Amravati, Solapur, Nashik and other districts, Dhanvijay has won several awards including the Mahatma Gandhi Peace Award-2003 given by the State Minorities Commission and the state's 1st Prize for communal harmony and national integration under the Rajiv Gandhi Gatimanta Abhiyan.

Excerpts:

Q. What is the modern day concept of community policing?

A. Community policing is a term which means involving the citizens of the civil society in maintaining law and order. This concept can be used for various fruitful purposes like prevention of crimes by involving the police mitras or volunteers, creating communal harmony and increasing awareness regarding various policing measures etc. This is to create a policeman in every civilian and making him a lawful citizen who would also be ready to shoulder the responsibility of collective security of the society.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/nagpur/Community-policing-creates-a-cop-in-every-civilian/articleshow/10024899.cms

Sharp Rise In Young Kids Accidentally Poisoned By Medication, US

Task Force Critical of Secure Communities Program

A task force created to recommend improvements to a federal immigration program presented a critical report this week, saying the program, Secure Communities, has had an "adverse impact" on community policing and caused confusion at the state and local level.

"To the extent that Secure Communities may damage community policing, the result can be greater levels of crime," the report said. "If residents do not trust their local police, they are less willing to step forward as witnesses to or victims of crime."

Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security, rolled out the Secure Communities program in October 2008. It aimed at removing serious criminal offenders from the country. But data showed that low level offenders, as well as those without criminal convictions, were getting caught up in the program.

Most significantly, the Task Force on Secure Communities recommended ICE not pursue individuals, identified through Secure Communities, for arrests based on minor traffic offenses, and ensure that victims of domestic violence, as well as victims of crime or witnesses, who come to the agency's attention through the program, are protected.

http://www.wnyc.org/articles/wnyc-news/2011/sep/17/task-force-critical-obamas-immigration-program/#

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http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2011/september/cyber_091611/cyber_091611

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Sept 16, 2011

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Report criticizes deportation program, urges changes

A federal task force says the fingerprint-sharing Secure Communities program hurts community policing. An end to deportation based only on minor traffic offenses is sought.

A federal task force charged with reviewing the Secure Communities deportation program said that the controversial initiative has had an "adverse impact" on community policing and that Immigration and Customs Enforcement has provided inaccurate or incomplete information about the program to states and localities.

"To the extent that Secure Communities may damage community policing, the result can be greater levels of crime," says a task force draft report obtained by The Times. "If residents do not trust their local police, they are less willing to step forward as witnesses to or victims of crime."

Secure Communities, which was launched in 2008, shares fingerprints collected by state and local police with immigration authorities in order to identify and deport tens of thousands of people each year. It was initially touted as a way to target serious convicts for deportation but has come under fire because a large percentage of immigrants caught up in it were never convicted of a crime, or are low-level offenders.

The task force, made up of 20 appointees including immigrant advocates, law enforcement leaders and union members, was meant to soothe growing concerns over the program. Members were given an opportunity to recommend possible changes, including how to handle cases involving minor traffic offenders. But the process itself drew criticism. One hearing in Los Angeles in August drew hundreds of protesters who called on task force members to resign and then walked out.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-secure-communities-20110916,0,6558422,print.story

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Casey Anthony must pay $97,000 to reimburse law enforcement

That's what Circuit Judge Belvin Perry ruled Thursday in Orlando, Fla. The amount was far less than the $500,000 requested by law enforcement agencies to cover their costs of the investigation into Caylee's alleged kidnapping and disappearance.

Anthony, 25, was acquitted in July of killing her daughter, a verdict that outraged the nation. That acquittal followed a lengthy investigation and subsequent trial that riveted the nation; both were focused on what precisely happened to the child, who went missing in the summer of 2008.

Over the course of the inquiry into her daughter's disappearance, Anthony told multiple stories about her daughter's fate. Initially, she told authorities that her daughter had been kidnapped by a nanny -- an allegation that launched a vast law enforcement search and investigation.

The search for Caylee continued for months, until her remains were discovered in December 2008 in the woods near the family's home. At trial it was revealed that the kidnapping story was a lie.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/nationnow/

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Third N.C. family member pleads guilty to supporting terrorists

A third member of a rural North Carolina family accused of plotting violent jihad overseas has pleaded guilty to conspiring to provide material support to terrorists.

Dylan Boyd, 24, a college sophomore who federal prosecutors say used the alias "Mohammed," was indicted in Raleigh, N.C., in 2009 along with his father, brother and four other men. Boyd's plea on Wednesday came four days before the scheduled trial of three co-defendants, the News and Observer of Raleigh reported.

Boyd's father, Daniel Boyd, a drywall contractor described by neighbors as helpful and friendly, was named by federal prosecutors as the ringleader of an Islamic terror cell in rural Johnston County, east of Raleigh.

The elder Boyd, 41, who prosecutors said used the name "Saifullah," meaning Sword of God, pleaded guilty in February to conspiracy to "murder, kidnap, maim and injure people in a foreign country."

Boyd is expected to testify for the prosecution in the upcoming trial for three co-defendants in New Bern, N.C., the newspaper reported.

Supreme Court halts killer's execution in Texas

Lawyers for Texas man on death row had asked Gov. Rick Perry for clemency

HUNTSVILLE, Texas — The U.S. Supreme Court Thursday halted the execution of a black man convicted of a double murder in Texas 16 years ago after his lawyers contended his sentence was unfair because of a question asked about race during his trial.

Duane Buck, 48, was spared from lethal injection when the justices, without comment, said they would review an appeal in his case. Two appeals, both related to a psychologist's testimony that black people were more likely to commit violence, were before the court. One was granted. The other denied.

"Praise the Lord!" Buck told Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesman Jason Clark. "God is worthy to be praised. God's mercy triumphs over judgment. I feel good."

His lawyers called to tell Buck of the reprieve and the inmate was praying in his cell when Clark approached, Clark said.

The reprieve came nearly two hours into a six-hour window when Buck could have been taken to the death chamber. Texas officials, however, refused to move forward with the punishment while legal issues were pending.

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/44532921/ns/today-today_news/t/supreme-court-halts-killers-execution-texas/#

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Florida

Palmetto Offers a Variety of New Policing Incentives – “Double for Your Trouble” Crime Stopper Reward Now Set at $20,000.

Earlier this week the Gold Star Club of Manatee County offered $10,000 to Crime Stoppers to assist in the arrest and conviction of those responsible for the murders of Gwenette Matthews and Trayon Goff.

“The recent shooting was committed within the CRA district; therefore anyone with information leading to the trial of the offenders will be eligible for incentives through the Crime Stoppers program”, said Mayor Shirley Groover-Bryant.

As part of the new Palmetto CRA Redevelopment Plan, the Palmetto Police will effectively double the reward to $20,000. The idea for the doubling of Crime Stopper Rewards as an element of the new plan came from Devin Bloome, a local high school intern working part-time for the CRA this past summer.

http://www.thebradentontimes.com/news/2011/09/16/law_enforcement/palmetto_offers_a_variety_of_
new_policing_incentives_double_for_your_trouble_crime_stopper_reward_now_set_at_20_000

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Sept 15, 2011

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Botulism cases blamed on black tar heroin

Four additional cases have been reported in Texas over the last few weeks, said health officials, who warned that serious, untreated cases could result in paralysis of breathing muscles and death.

"There is no way for a person on the street to tell if black tar heroin is contaminated, nor any way to clean it to make it safe," Jeff Duchin, chief of communicable disease epidemiology for the Seattle and King County Public Health Department, said in a statement.

Black tar heroin, produced in Latin America and sold mainly in Western U.S. states, is a cruder, less-refined form of heroin that contains more morphine derivatives than pure heroin. When injected under the skin or into the muscles, the botulinum neurotoxin can fester and grow in the wound, producing potentially deadly infection, health officials say.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/nationnow/

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America the poor

A new Census Bureau report shows the extent of hard times, and just how vital a tattered safety net has become.

The Census Bureau reported Tuesday that almost 1 in 6 Americans was living below the federal poverty line in 2010, the highest percentage since 1993 and the largest number in at least five decades. The same day, the head of the Congressional Budget Office told a newly created deficit-reduction committee that the federal government couldn't sustain the services it had been providing for decades without major reductions in other spending, significant increases in taxes or both.

As distressing as those presentations were, they merely reinforced what is already common knowledge: The economy is in terrible shape, and the federal government can't afford to do much to help. Even if it could, the efforts by the Bush and Obama administrations since 2008 show how hard it is for Washington to revive an economy stalled by a financial crisis, even if it is willing to spend billions of dollars trying. The best one can say is that things would have been worse had Washington not pumped cash into banks and credit markets, state and local governments, and taxpayers' wallets. Just because government officials can't wave a magic wand over the economy to fix it, however, policymakers shouldn't use that as an excuse to make things worse.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/opinionla/la-ed-poverty-20110915,0,347465,print.story

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Police: Human Remains Found in Search for Utah Mom

Nearly two years after a mother vanished, her friends and family are waiting to learn whether her case may have seen a major break after authorities discovered human remains during their latest search for clues in the Utah desert.

Susan Powell was 28 when she was reported missing Dec. 7, 2009, after she failed to show up for her stockbroker job. The case has cast a harsh spotlight on Powell's husband, who remains the only person of interest but has never been arrested or charged.

It wasn't immediately known if the remains found Wednesday belonged to Susan Powell, or if they were even female. Authorities planned to resume their investigation Thursday morning.

"It's a game of patience at this point," West Valley City Sgt. Mike Powell said. "We need to slow down a little bit and identify what it is we found."

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/police-human-remains-found-search-utah-mom-14524805

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California

San Ramon Gets $100K State Grant to Offset Youth Resource Officer's Salary

The total cost to fund the youth and community resource officer position is $214,650 a year.

San Ramon got a six-figure grant from the state to help pay for a youth and community resource officer.

The annual $100,000 grant comes from the State Controller's Office to help pay for preventative youth and community policing.

Locally, the money will pay for some of the $214,650 San Ramon shells out every year for its Community and Youth Resource Officer Mike Schneider. He's the man in charge of policing crimes committed by minors and administering the city's Juvenile Diversion Program, which aims to get law-breaking kids back on track.

The city teams up with schools, parents and others to enforce the youth resource program, according to the San Ramon Police Department website.

http://sanramon.patch.com/articles/san-ramon-gets-100k-state-grant-for-community-policing

Census poverty report: In tough times Americans 'double up'

The worst of it has been widely reported: From 2009 to 2010 poverty was up, median household income was down, and the number of people living without health insurance grew from 49 million to 49.9 million.

Grim stuff.

One thing we found interesting is the growing number of people living in what are called "doubled-up households." In the report, these are defined as households that include at least one "additional" person who is 18 or older, not enrolled in school, not the house owner and not the spouse or partner of the house owner.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/nationnow/

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California poverty rate rises in 2010 for fourth year in a row

Six million residents last year had incomes below the federal poverty line of $22,113 for a family of four. Nearly 1 in 5 California residents lacked health insurance in 2010.

Interactive map : People living in poverty, by state

The number of Californians living in poverty grew for the fourth straight year in 2010, more evidence that continued high unemployment and a struggling economy are weighing on the state's families.

About 6 million Californians had incomes below the federal poverty line of $22,113 for a family of four in 2010, census data released Tuesday show. That's 16.3% of the population, up from 15.3% in 2009.

Nearly 1 in 5 residents lacked health insurance last year, one of the highest rates in the nation. Median household income in the state, when adjusted for inflation, fell 4.6% to $54,459. That's the largest decline in a single year since record keeping began.

"The latest data show that the Great Recession had a very profound impact on California, particularly families with children," said Jean Ross, executive director of the nonpartisan research group California Budget Project. "We saw a very significant increase in poverty and a significant decrease in the purchasing power of the income of the typical California household."

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-poverty-california-20110914,0,5953639,print.story

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Girl slain, 2 wounded in apparent retaliation for good deed

A Good Samaritan stops the beating of a woman down the street in San Bernardino only to have the attacker open fire on his house an hour later. The police chief vows to catch the killer.

Fourteen-year-old Destiny Hull spent Tuesday morning mopping up dried blood from her grandmother's front porch, stains from an evening that began with an act of kindness and ended with an apparent act of vengeance that left a small girl dead and a pregnant woman and her young daughter seriously wounded.

The series of events in San Bernardino began Monday evening when a Good Samaritan who lived in the house — police won't say who for fear of tainting possible eyewitness accounts — saw a man beating a woman down the street, charged in and broke up the fight, allowing the woman to escape.

An hour later, the woman's attacker came to the male Good Samaritan's home and opened fire. Destiny's sister, who was five months pregnant, was shot in the jaw and neck, and bullets hit Destiny's two 3-year-old nieces in the head.

Destiny, overwhelmed by tears and fits of anger at the invading news cameras, stayed home from school to help clean up.

"I just can't believe this happened," she said, scrubbing the blood away from the porch, where the walls were pocked with bullet holes.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me--toddler-shot-20110914,0,7957417.story

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Teen driver restrictions a mixed bag

A nationwide analysis shows that while the number of fatal crashes among 16- and 17-year-old drivers has fallen, deadly accidents among 18-to-19-year-olds have risen by an almost equal amount.

For more than a decade, California and other states have kept their newest teen drivers on a tight leash, restricting the hours when they can get behind the wheel and whom they can bring along as passengers. Public officials were confident that their get-tough policies were saving lives.

Now, though, a nationwide analysis of crash data suggests that the restrictions may have backfired: While the number of fatal crashes among 16- and 17-year-old drivers has fallen, deadly accidents among 18-to-19-year-olds have risen by an almost equal amount. In effect, experts say, the programs that dole out driving privileges in stages, however well-intentioned, have merely shifted the ranks of inexperienced drivers from younger to older teens.

"The unintended consequences of these laws have not been well-examined," said Mike Males, a senior researcher at the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice in San Francisco, who was not involved in the study, published in Wednesday's edition of the Journal of the American Medical Assn. "It's a pretty compelling study."

The combination of immaturity and inexperience makes teen drivers particularly vulnerable to motor vehicle accidents. Car crashes are the leading cause of death among teens, resulting in 4,054 fatalities in 2008, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety in Arlington, Va.

Graduated driver licensing programs, as they are known, bar young drivers from certain higher-risk situations — such as being on the road at night, talking on cellphones and driving with passengers — until they gain more experience. The first program was implemented in Florida in 1996, and since then all 50 states and the District of Columbia have adopted some type of multi-step plan.

http://www.latimes.com/health/la-he-teen-driver-laws-20110914,0,4744060,print.story

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'Parenthood parole' pitfalls

Giving reduced sentences to people simply because they're parents is not strong policy. Lawmakers must adopt the structural reforms needed to fix the prisons in the long term.

Back in the bad old days of English jurisprudence, women who faced hanging for theft or other then-capital crimes could "plead their bellies". If they could prove they were pregnant, they could get their sentences commuted or reduced. As evidence of how far we've come in the intervening centuries, a similar system is about to be put into practice in California.

As early as next week, the state prison system is slated to begin releasing mothers convicted of non-serious, non-sexual crimes who have two years or less left in their terms. They will serve the rest of their time at home, with their kids, wearing GPS-enabled ankle bracelets and reporting to parole officers. According to a report by Times staff writer Jack Dolan, nearly half of the 9,500 women in state custody might qualify for such early releases, and the same policy may be applied to fathers in the near future.

We understand the rationale for all this. Families are thought to exert a stabilizing influence on former inmates, making them less likely to commit further crimes. The state is under a federal court order to cut its prison population by at least 30,000 before July 2013, forcing officials to find creative solutions to a very difficult problem. Data show that kids are better off living with their actual parents, even when those parents are convicted felons, than they would be in the foster care system.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/opinionla/la-ed-inmates-20110914,0,1685750,print.story

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Lost in the courts: The Omer Harland Gallion story

In 2004, a federal magistrate reviewed Gallion's request for a new hearing and recommended that he receive a new trial or be released. Neither happened. Gallion died while waiting for U.S. District Judge Percy Anderson to rule on his case.

Omer Harland Gallion spent nearly 15 years in prison proclaiming his innocence. In 2004, a federal magistrate reviewed his request for a new hearing and recommended that he receive a new trial or be released. Neither happened. Gallion died last year while waiting for U.S. District Judge Percy Anderson to rule on his case.

Anderson wasn't required to rule in Gallion's favor. In fact, it's rare for a federal judge to grant a prisoner's petition challenging his or her conviction. But Anderson was expected to consider the issues in a timely fashion and make a decision. Instead, he failed to act for six years, while Gallion remained in prison. The system failed in this case and in the case of at least three other prisoners whose habeas corpus petitions languished before Anderson, one of them for nearly nine years.

Part of the problem is that the federal courts are overburdened. In California's Central District, too few judges are assigned to handle too many cases. Looming budget cuts and rules requiring judges to give priority to criminal cases over prisoners' petitions have strained the system. But that's no excuse for the kind of delay Gallion was subjected to.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/opinionla/la-ed-habeas-20110913,0,7958773,print.story

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Cold Case of Murdered 5-Year-Old Alie Berrelez Solved

Alie Berrelez disappeared on May 18, 1993, from the Golden Nugget apartment complex on Grand Avenue in Englewood.

A cold case involving the unsolved murder of a 5-year-old girl in 1993 was finally closed today, but the suspect will not be arrested.

"It's been a long 18 years," said Richard Berrelez, grandfather of Alie Berrelez, who was killed in Englewood, Colo., 1993. "But Alie's not a victim, I don't want people to think of her as a victim. She's a hero, and she's been a hero for the past 18 years."

Englewood police said today what they had long suspected: the DNA of neighbor Nick Stofer, 41, was found on the girl's underwear when they recovered her body. Stofer, however, will not face charges. He died of natural causes in 2001, never having stood trial for the crime.

Alie Berrelez was kidnapped from her apartment complex where she was sitting eating pizza with other children in the parking lot, in Englewood on May 18, 1993. Following a massive search by police and fire workers and volunteers, and the use of scent-tracking dogs, the little girl was found four days later in a canvas bag near a creek 14 miles away from her home.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/cold-case-year-murdered-1993-solved-dna/story?id=14510785

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Fewer pat-downs for kids in TSA security checks

These changes will be adopted in airports nationwide within months, after Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers receive extra training, Napolitano told the Senate homeland security committee. The program will be expanding from a pilot program in six airports that began in the spring.

"There'd be additional training for a different pat-down procedure for them and also, again, allowing them to leave their shoes on," Napolitano says.

The announcement was the latest example of an effort by the department to have risk-based screening rather than the same process for everybody, as TSA Administrator John Pistole mapped out in a series of speeches.

"As we have made clear, we are always taking steps, based on the most recent intelligence, to enhance procedures while at the same time improving the passenger experience whenever possible," spokesman Greg Soule said. "TSA anticipates these changes, which will begin rolling out in select airports this week, will continue to strengthen and streamline the security screening process for travelers."

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2011-09-13/tsa-pat-downs-airport-kids/50395512/1

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Cops to get training in community policing

MEMBERS of the Jamaica Constabulary Force are to get training in community policing at the University of the West Indies Open Campus, a move which Police Commissioner Owen Ellington says will help his men to "combat crime".

One hundred local police officers and another 100 policemen from across the region will be trained in the first of two 13-week courses to be delivered online beginning next month. An estimated 7,000 police regionally are to be trained.

Speaking Monday at the launch of the UWI Open Campus Community Policing Programme (CPP) in the Council Room, UWI, Mona, Ellington admitted that Jamaica has "an extraordinary high rate of violent crime but it is difficult for the police to enforce law, defeat gangs and respond to new and emerging threats such as terrorism without the cooperation of communities".

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Cops-to-get-training-in-community-policing_9701816

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The Anniversary of the Violence Against Women Act

Marking the 17th anniversary of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) helps us both appreciate the great strides that have been made in addressing all types of violence against women and recognize the fact that more needs to be done to create a society free from domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence and stalking. The Department of Justice's Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) remains committed to addressing these crimes in a broad and comprehensive manner.

The concept of a coordinated community response is one of the most critical and visible achievements of VAWA. In the years since VAWA's enactment by Congress in 1994, we have witnessed a sea-change in the ways that communities respond to domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and dating violence. VAWA encourages communities to bring together stakeholders from diverse backgrounds to share information and to use their distinct roles to improve our responses to and prevention of violence against women. These groups include, but are not limited to: victim advocates, police officers, prosecutors, judges, probation and corrections officials, health care professionals, leaders within faith communities, and survivors of violence. New programs and amendments have strengthened the law and enhanced our work.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2011/09/13/anniversary-violence-against-women-act

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Your role in homeland security

Yesterday, the nation commemorated the 10 year remembrance of the Sept. 11 terror attacks on our country. Vigilance was the word of the day as we collectively reflected on the lives lost that day as well as the steps we have taken as a nation to ensure it never happens again. While our first responders and military have taken the lead on safety and security in the decade since, individuals can, and do, play an important role in making our communities and nation more secure. Homeland security is something every American has a role in.

The Coast Guard, in partnership with federal, state and local agencies keeps a vigilant watch on our nation's waterways. But, with more than 95,000 miles of coastline to protect, the Coast Guard and our partners also rely on alert individuals.

Homeland security begins with hometown security, and working together you can build a strong foundation for a secure and resilient homeland in your community.

One of the programs that places all Americans at the forefront of impacting our nation's security is the Department of Homeland Security's “If You See Something, Say Something” campaign. The goal of this program is as simple as it sounds, if you hear or see anything suspicious tell local authorities about it. By raising public awareness of possible terrorist indicators and encouraging every citizen to report suspicious activity to authorities, the country is further strengthening its ability to stay protected from threats.

http://coastguard.dodlive.mil/2011/09/your-role-in-homeland-security/

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ICE delivers back to school message: Beware of online child predators

BOSTON - As a new school year begins and children research classroom assignments online, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) alerts parents to more closely monitor their children's Internet activities to avoid child predators.

The warning is supported by data showing more than 1,100 criminal arrests nationwide so far this fiscal year. These arrests are part of Operation Predator, a nationwide ICE HSI initiative launched in 2003 to protect children from sexual predators, including those who travel overseas for sex with minors, Internet child pornographers, criminal alien sex offenders and child sex traffickers. The arrests led to more than 2,100 seizures of images and other evidence by ICE HSI special agents in support of their investigations. Since its inception, Operation Predator has resulted in than 6,000 child predator arrests nationwide.

"Our goal is to help safeguard families from these online predators who prey on unsuspecting children by expanding our efforts using the eyes and ears of parents," said Bruce M. Foucart, special agent in charge of ICE HSI in Boston. Foucart oversees HSI throughout New England. "Our message is simple: parents, pay attention!"

http://www.ice.gov/news/releases/1109/110913boston.htm

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Surrogacy Scam Played on Emotions of Vulnerable Victims

It's a shocking tale.

Three women recently pled guilty in San Diego, admitting to taking part in a scheme to illegally create an inventory of babies to sell to unwitting would-be parents for fees of between $100,000 and $150,000 each.

The three took advantage of couples who desperately wanted children, offering them seemingly legitimate surrogacy situations. They also took advantage of women recruited as “gestational carriers” to carry pregnancies to term after having embryos transferred to their uteruses.

The defendants in this case included two lawyers who specialized in reproductive law: Theresa Erickson, a well-known California attorney, and Hilary Neiman, who operated an adoption/surrogacy agency in Maryland. The third conspirator was Carla Chambers of Nevada, who served as the “surrogacy facilitator.” Together, they circumvented surrogacy regulations that say contracts between surrogates and intended parents must be executed before a pregnancy occurs…and lied to surrogates, intended parents, and the California family court.

http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2011/september/surrogacy_091311/surrogacy_091311

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FBI Statement Before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs

Good morning, Chairman Lieberman, Ranking Member Collins, and members of the committee. Thank you for the opportunity to appear before the committee today to discuss the threats facing our nation and the efforts of the FBI to protect the United States over the past 10 years.

Introduction

The mission of the FBI is to protect and defend the United States against terrorist and foreign intelligence threats, to uphold and enforce the criminal laws of the United States, and to provide leadership and criminal justice services to federal, state, municipal, tribal, and international agencies and partners. The FBI's number one priority in this mission continues to be the prevention of terrorist attacks against the United States. To improve its ability to detect and disrupt those with the intent and capability to conduct attacks in the United States, the FBI has undergone a paradigm shift in the way we collect and use intelligence.

The FBI significantly increased its intelligence capacity after the attacks of September 11, 2001, when the FBI elevated counterterrorism to its highest priority. Prior to the 9/11 attacks, the FBI's operations were heavily weighted towards its law enforcement mission; intelligence tools and authorities were primarily used for the counterintelligence mission. In the immediate aftermath of 9/11, the FBI quickly identified the need to enhance intelligence programs with improved analytical and information sharing capacities to detect and prevent future terrorist attacks.

http://www.fbi.gov/news/testimony/ten-years-after-9-11-are-we-safer

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Sept 13, 2011

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Predator drones do domestic duty

In recent months, the unmanned spy planes have been put to work fighting fires and flooding. Privacy watchdogs are uneasy.

Most days, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Officer David Gasho sends three unmanned spy planes into the skies over the rugged Sonora Desert to hunt for drug smugglers crossing into southern Arizona from Mexico.

But in mid-June, as the largest wildfire in Arizona history raged, Gasho sent one of the Predator B drones soaring over residential neighborhoods in search of another threat — rogue brush fires. Working from an air-conditioned trailer, his crew aimed an airborne infrared camera through thick smoke and spotted a smoldering blaze.

Using coordinates fed from the drone, airborne firefighters then doused the hot spot from helicopters and watched over a secure Internet feed as the heat signature of the flames cooled.

It was the latest example of once-secret military hardware finding routine civilian uses. Seven surveillance drones are chiefly used to help patrol America's northern and southern borders. But in recent months, they also have helped state and local authorities fight deadly fires, survey damage from floods and tornadoes, and inspect dams and levees.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-domestic-drones-20110912,0,1245313,print.story

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Prison officials are set to let some female inmates out early

Women who have children and are convicted of 'non-serious, non-sexual' crimes could start going home as early as next week as the state seeks to relieve overcrowding.

Drastically redefining incarceration in California, prison officials are about to start releasing thousands of female inmates who have children to serve the remainder of their sentences at home.

The move, which could affect nearly half the women held in state facilities, will help California meet a court-imposed deadline to make space in its chronically overcrowded prisons. The policy could be extended to male inmates in the near future, administrators said Monday.

Mothers who were convicted of non-serious, non-sexual crimes — and have two years or less remaining on their sentences — could start going home as early as next week, prisons spokeswoman Dana Toyama said. The women would be required to wear GPS-enabled ankle bracelets and report to parole officers.

The program is "a step in breaking the intergenerational cycle of incarceration," state prisons Secretary Matthew Cate said, arguing that "family involvement is one of the biggest indicators of an inmate's rehabilitation."

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-prison-home-20110913,0,701506,print.story

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More Mexico youths die from violence than car wrecks, report says

Government statistics reviewed by the newspaper show that in 2008 and 2009, the second and third complete years of Mexico's drug war, violent deaths of people between 15 and 29 shot up about 150%. The figures rose almost equally across various narrower age brackets within that group.

Half of those homicides occurred in five states that include some of those worst hit by the current violence: Chihuahua, Baja California, Guerrero, Sinaloa and the state of Mexico, on the border with Mexico City. Violence is now the leading cause of death among Mexicans between the ages of 15 and 29, overtaking car accidents, the report said.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/laplaza/2011/09/youth-young-people-mexico-drug-war-homicide-accidents.html

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California

Redevelopment credited for Pittsburg's push against crime

While politicians and judges in the state capital decide the fate of redevelopment agencies, they only need look about 50 miles down the Sacramento River to see the massive changes redevelopment has brought to a blue-collar city that was once an East Bay crime hotbed.

A couple decades ago, the landscape of downtown Pittsburg was dotted with dilapidated buildings, parks filled with drug addicts and a pervasive fear among residents for their safety.

Today, after seven years of one of the most ambitious redevelopment efforts in the state, the blight and crime have largely disappeared from downtown, replaced with a new elementary school, several restaurants and specialty stores, townhouses -- and even a caviar shop.

"When I moved my business down here (in 2004), everyone thought I was nuts," said lifelong resident Marisa Belleci, who runs a multimedia marketing business in the same building her father owned when she was a child. "Now, those same people say I was smart and made a good decision."

http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_18879656

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Secretary Napolitano Announces "If You See Something, Say Something™" Campaign Partnerships

WASHINGTON—Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano announced new partnerships between the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) "If You See Something, Say Something™" public awareness campaign and several sports organizations and collegiate universities. Partnerships include National Football League (NFL) teams, Major League Baseball (MLB) teams, the U.S. Open Tennis Championships (USTA), Ohio State University, and the University of Oklahoma.

"Every citizen plays a critical role in identifying and reporting suspicious activities and threats," said Secretary Napolitano. "By expanding the ‘If You See Something, Say Something™" campaign we are working together to ensure the safety and security of fans, players, employees, and students."

The "If You See Something, Say Something™" campaign -- originally implemented by New York City's Metropolitan Transportation Authority and now licensed to DHS for a nationwide campaign -- is a simple and effective program to engage the public and key frontline employees to identify and report indicators of terrorism, crime and other threats to the proper transportation and law enforcement authorities.

http://www.dhs.gov/ynews/releases/20110912-napolitano-announces-see-something-say-something-partnerships.shtm

Airport security may soon let shoes stay on

Technology improvements in airport screening machines could soon allow travelers to pass through the checkpoints while wearing belts, coats and shoes, Homeland Security's Janet Napolitano says.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano recently offered some good news for air travelers: The days of marching through airport security checkpoints in your stocking feet may soon be over.

Technology improvements in the nation's airport screening machines could soon allow travelers to pass through the checkpoints without removing belts, coats, shoes and other clothing, she said in a C-SPAN televised interview last week.

"I think one of the first things you will see over time is the ability to keep your shoes on," Napolitano said.

Shoes have been a target for inspection by airport security agents since British-born Richard Reid attempted to ignite explosives hidden in his shoes on a 2001 flight from Paris to Miami.

Napolitano didn't offer a timeline for dropping the shoe-removal rule, but she did say it would probably be the next big change at airport checkpoints.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-0912-travel-briefcase-20110912,0,2938862,print.story

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Gun store owner had misgivings about ATF sting

When federal agents with Operation Fast and Furious told Andre Howard to sell weapons to illegal purchasers, he complied, but he feared someone would get hurt. Then a border agent was shot.

In the fall of 2009, ATF agents installed a secret phone line and hidden cameras in a ceiling panel and wall at Andre Howard's Lone Wolf gun store. They gave him one basic instruction: Sell guns to every illegal purchaser who walks through the door.

For 15 months, Howard did as he was told. To customers with phony IDs or wads of cash he normally would have turned away, he sold pistols, rifles and semiautomatics. He was assured by the ATF that they would follow the guns, and that the surveillance would lead the agents to the violent Mexican drug cartels on the Southwest border.

When Howard heard nothing about any arrests, he questioned the agents. Keep selling, they told him. So hundreds of thousands of dollars more in weapons, including .50-caliber sniper rifles, walked out of the front door of his store in a Glendale, Ariz., strip mall.

He was making a lot of money. But he also feared somebody was going to get hurt.

"Every passing week, I worried about something like that," he said. "I felt horrible and sick."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-atf-guns-20110912,0,7611438.story

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Massachusetts

North Andover Police announce app for iPhone, Android users

NORTH ANDOVER — The police department is launching a "Police App" for iPhone and Android users for town residents. The app is available free from iTunes and Android Marketplace.

The app is under My Police Department or "MyPD." Police Chief Paul Gallagher said one of his goals when being promoted recently was to be in the forefront of technology.

The app will be a citizen-friendly initiative for the community policing and Neighborhood Watch programs.

Citizens can check for police alerts from the Neighborhood Watch program, and social media postings, contact department personnel, submit complaints or commendations, crime tips or photographs right from their smart phone

http://www.eagletribune.com/local/x1078457265/North-Andover-Police-announce-app-for-iPhone-Android-users

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